THE
The dissipation of Roe won’t stop abortions - only the safe ones GC’s coachnew Bobcat alumnus Ryan Aquino was recent ly announced the new GC men’s basketball head coach on June 18.
See ROE Page 11 See COX | Page 3 Alayna Fogarty Staff Writer See COACH | Page 6 See TATE | Page 9
A glimpse into Astrology from the per spective of a Pisces.
GC associate profes sor of philosophy Sa brina Hom attributes a large part of Tate’s rising popularity among this demographic to the fact that he fills a niche. He provides advice to young men whose desires and preferences fall in line with a more tradition al idea of the male role. These traditional ideas are often reverted to times of social, political and economic unrest in an attempt to re store order and comfort to an anxious society. “I think we often see this historically, at mo ments of social unrest or change, financial pressure, and instability such as that created by the Covid-19 pandem ic,” Hom said. “When you have these kinds of stresses, folks look in a lot of different directions for comfort and one of the directions peo ple will look is towards figures that restore an idea of traditionalism.”
GC men’s basket ball is not unfamiliar to Aquino. He has served roles such as assistant coach and head re cruiting coordinator for the past eight years.
Action taken around the presence of Andrew Tate, internet personal ity and former 2-time ISKA professional kick boxing champion on social media platforms has restarted controver sy around social media censorship. This issue regained relevance in the public sphere last week when Meta formerly known as Facebook, In stagram and Youtube made a concerted effort to ban Andrew Tate and his affiliated accounts from their platforms. These companies fol low a precedent set by Twitter, which banned Tate’s account in 2017 after he tweeted that women should “bear some responsibility” for being sexually assaulted. His followers view him as a brazen lead er of a masculinitythebodiesadults,adolescentswhociety.culinity”restoremovementcountercultureworkingto“traditionalmasinmodernsoHissupporters,aremainlymaleandyoungfeelthatheemvaluesthatrestoreideaoftraditionalincluding a remarkable physique, lucrativity, advocacy for a more traditional view of gender roles, and un shakeable confidence in the face of challenge.
Roe v. Wade was es tablished in 1973 after the Court found that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provided people the fundamen tal “right to privacy.” This helped to protect a woman’s right to her body, her reproductive system and her choice to have an abortion. They found that any state or federal law that prohibits access to abortion violat ed the right to privacy. In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court used the Due Process Clause to strike down state legis lation that limited and restricted personal lib erties not explicitly writ ten in the Constitution. The Court found that prohibiting abortion violated the Due Pro cess Clause because it did not allow women to choose whether or not to have the procedure.
Aquino graduated from GC in 2012 and played for the GC bas ketball team from 2008 to 2012. He later re ceived his master’s de gree from GC in 2015. As an undergraduate at GC, Aquino was a very accomplished player. In his senior year, he was invited to play in Reese’s Senior All-Star Game.
SPORTS | PG. 6 CULT ARTSCELEBRITYOF101&LIFE|PG. 10
Katherine Futch Editor in Chief Roe v. Wade
After almost a year of President Cathy Cox re siding as GC’s new uni versity president, she was officially inaugurat ed as the twelfth presi dent on Aug. 19, 2022. The ceremony included speakers from people within the Milledgeville and GC community, which notably included USG’s Chancellor Son ny Perdue and the last three presidents of GC, Dr. Rosemary DePaolo, Dr. Dorothy Leland and Dr. Steve Dorman. Through their greetings, Cox’s career accom plishments were rec ognized along with the values she had embod ied throughout her ca reer in higher education. Cox emphasized the importance of a liber al arts degree because of the critical thinking that is taught in uni versities. Along with how students learn in a classroom, she rec ognized GC’s involve ment in the local com munity and discussed the importance of stu dents being involved with service proj ects and non-profits. “Being the state’s designated public lib eral arts university re ally gives us a calling to do it right, do it the best and to be as distinctive as we can because we know that students have a lot of other options in the Uni versity System of Geor gia,” Cox said. “We want them to know when you come here, you get a very different experience than you’re going to get at any of our sister institutions.”
Cox inaugurated as GC’s 12th president Rebecca Meghani News Editor -President Cox Being the ituseristyliberaldesignatedstate’spublicartsunivrealygivesacallingtodoright
GC BUDGET CUTS DUE TO LOW ENROLLMENT NEWS | PG. 3 Factors as to why less students are applying to colleges and how it affects current students.
The Official Student Newspaper of Georgia College Single Copies Free September 7, 2022 bobcatmultimedia.com @GCSUnade @TheColonnade
GC ACQUIRES VOLLEY BALL TRANSFER SEASON OF VIRGO OPINION & MISC. | PG. 12
Courtesy of Anna Leavitt GC’s 12th president, Cathy Cox, celebrates her long-awaited inauguration.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade this summer was perhaps the most substantial rollback of human rights in mod ern U.S. history. Fifty years of precedent dissi pated and the Supreme Court no longer feder ally protects a woman’s constitutional right to safe and legal abortions.
GC acquires new transfer, Rachel Ma chovec, at the start of the new season. Texas State Univeristy is now offering a class called “Harry Styles and the Cult of the Celebrity: Identity, the Internet and European Pop Culture”.
The deplatforming of Andrew Tate Drew ContributingOldhamWriter Internet personality and former professional boxer, Andrew Tate, was deplatformed from social media sites for misogy nistic and sexist remarks.
The Colonnade is looking more. Contact thegcsucolonnade@gmail.com for more.
If you’re interested in writing for The Colonnade, email thegcsucolonnade@gmail.com.
Editorial Board s Rising Prices
Jaci ContributingHillWriter
Copyrights
All stories and photographs appearing in this issue and previous issues, unless otherwise noted, are copyrighted by The Colonnade.
“Rates and fees for the campus have not increased since 2020 and will not be increas ing for at least the next three years,” said Mat thew Terry, GC Hous ing Employee. However, that is only good news for the students who live in campus housing. Rising inflation rates are causing students to find cheaper off-campus housing to afford things like groceries and gas. A four-person apartment on campus is $4,833 for six months or $805.50 a month, which is much higher than similar apartments off-campus. This could be why most returning students find housing in off-cam pus student apart ments or houses around Milledgeville. With most returning students living off-campus, this means that a lot of them do not purchase meal plans, which could help with the rising grocery prices.
Editor in
While a meal plan might seem like an un necessary expense be cause of the upfront charge, buying grocer ies every week adds up. Buying a meal plan may be cheaper than buying groceries because of the fixed rate. As prices rise due to inflation, meal plans stay the same, so students find that they are worth the money. Madison Johnson, ju nior psychology major, agrees as a returning stu dent living off-campus. “I got a meal plan so that I didn’t have to buy groceries con stantly, I think it saves me money in the long run,” Johnson said. As food prices con tinue to be the thing that inflation is affecting the most, Johnson might have the right idea. With the trend of trying to save money, there are more returning students opting out of buying books from the bookstore on campus. The bookstore upcharges on books because they’re owned by Barnes & No ble, so you can often find the same books/access codes for less by buying directly from the publish er. Buying directly or on line from 2nd hand ven dors is more appealing to struggling students be cause of the lower prices. “I bought my books from the bookstore fresh man year, but they’re so expensive, I’d rather save my money and buy them cheaper online,” said sohpomore manage ment information sys tems major Jack Thomas. This seems to be a common sentiment among returning GC stu dents. There are multiple websites, such as Ama zon and AbeBooks, that have used books that go for much cheaper than their new counterparts in in-person stores like the on-campus bookstore. This seems to be the bet ter option as inflation raises the book prices. “I have noticed the prices going up for some books, I think shipping rates are higher,” said campus bookstore em ployee Jennifer Courtney. Inflation and high shipping costs typically go hand and hand, so this seems like a likely cause for the price increase. In any case, inflation rates are causing every one to be more careful about where and how they spend their money, and it is likely the infla tion period will not end until sometime in 2023. The inflation rate did decrease to 8.5% in July, leading some to speculate that it has finally peaked, but it is still very high. At GC, it seems stu dents are very aware of the rising prices and try ing to find ways to save money, whether that be with a meal plan or buy ing second-hand books. With the Inflation Re duction Act expected to have little to no imme diate effect on inflation, all we can do is wait the inflation period out and be cautious of how we are spending our money.
The Colonnade is not responsible for any false advertising. We are not liable for any error in advertising to a greater extent than the cost of the space in which the item occurs. The Colonnade reserves the right to edit or reject any advertising copy submitted for publication. There is no guaranteed placement of ads. The Colonnade does not accept advertising concerning firearms nor guarantee ads concerning alcoholic beverages.
LILY PRUITT, ASST. NEWS EDITOR2NEWS REBECCA MEGHANI, NEWS EDITOR 9.7.2022GC’
*All columnsOpinionarethe opinion theof columnist, not of The Colonnade. @TheColonnade
This bill is a reduced version of the proposed Build Back Better Act and aims to reduce car bon emissions, lower prescription drug prices, and reduce the deficit. Biden claims the legisla tion will bring inflation relief to Americans by reducing the deficit by over 300 billion dollars. This claim has been criticized, however, with the Congressional Bud get Office saying they predict the bill will have “a negligible effect on inflation.” It seems like ly that the bill will not provide immediate relief to consumers struggling with rising prices, if at all. In return, GC stu dents are facing the effects of this as well.
“I didn’t get a meal plan because I thought it was too expensive, but I end up spending way too much grocery shopping because prices are so high right now,” said sophomore mass communication ma jor Joseph Aboukhaled.
FacultyAdPRDigitalDigitalAsst.OpinionAsst.ArtsAsst.SportsAsst.NewsArtManagingChiefEditorDirectorEditorNewsEditorEditorSportsEditor&LifeEditorArts&LifeEditorEditorOpinionEditorMediaEditorMediaEditorManagerSalesManagerAdviser
VOLUME 100 | NO. 1 @GCSUnade
Contact Us Office: Terrell 301 bobcatmultimedia.comcomthegcsucolonnade@gmail.
The annual inflation rate reached a 40-year high of 9.1% in June of this year. This is a dras tic increase from 5.4% in June 2021. Inflation rates continue to raise prices, specifically food, which raised to 10.9% in July - the largest in crease since May 1979. These price increases have affected Americans nationwide, leading to the passing of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act on August 16th, 2022.
If you feel anything we’ve printed or posted online has been reported in error, please send an email to thegcsucolonnade@ gmail.com.
Katherine Futch.............. Lilyana Kovacheva....... Claire WilliamRobertConnorMarissaAnjaliHannahAbigayleque........................................WilliamJenniferBrennanHaydenLilyRebeccaO’Neill...................Meghani..........Pruitt............................Flinn....................Schmitz...........Crider.................VandePlanAllen..................Adams...............Shennoy................Marcolina.........Patronis.............Trotter...................Burke..................
CorrectionsAd Disclaimer
for staff writers, editors, designers, videographers, and
Cox has her own vi sion for what she wants from an education al experience to better prepare our students.
Arias also stated that the budget cuts are approximated at 6.4 million for the fis cal year 2024 for GC.
Clark added that on line classes have dis suaded people from applying to college due to limited social contact, lack of com munity and the struc ture of online learning. “The University Sys tem of Georgia uses a formula funding ap proach based on stu dent enrollment to allocate state appropria tions among its institu tions,” McDonald said. According to McDon ald, the recent decline in enrollment means that GC will have few er dollars from tuition over the next few years. “To mitigate these reductions, the uni versity will utilize funding reserves and eliminate some vacant po sitions,” McDonald said. Registered student organizations should not be affected by the budget cuts accord ing to McDonald and Clark was not con cerned about the budget cuts affecting current GC faculty members.
He mentioned the possibility that some students who had to re take the ACT or SAT exam missed the dead line to apply due to COVID-19 restrictions.
USG low enrollment leads to budget cuts
ContinuedCOXfrom page 1
“I like what GC is do ing, how they are teach ing, the approach they have where small class es are valued with small interactions,” Cox said.
Clark explained that GC is one of the three colleges in the USG system that needs stan dardized test scores for students to be accepted, which may prevent some students from applying.
Other factors for low enrollment levels in clude birth rates, which are lower than those of past generations.
The values for stu dents, faculty and staff stand out to her that she wants to continue to ex perience on campus. She states that she wants the students to sense her ap proachability in order to improve GC for students. “I love the fact that students will stop, talk to me and take a selfie,” Cox said. “I’m not afraid to be asked for a selfie or a conversation but I want students to tell me what’s on their mind, if there’s things that are driving them crazy. I want to know it, I want to hear it so I can help address those things.”
“Part of what’s hap pening is that people are having fewer chil dren,” Dr. Clark said. Clark explained that the lower birth rate of this generation direct ly impacted enrollment.
“The world is chang ing so fast, information turns over so rapidly, technology changes so quickly and artificial in telligence is changing the world,” Cox said. “What do we have to do to make sure that degrees you get are still relevant? That the education you get really prepares you to the nimble and that kind of fast changing world.” She emphasizes the importance for students to leave their comfort zone to think about what we can do differ ently in the future to better prepare them selves for the challeng es of the next decade. “As a whole campus, jumping into a full-scale strategic planning pro cess this fall,” Cox said. That’s something where we’re going to be ask ing the whole campus to reimagine what we do and look forward to imagine 2030. I think it can be exciting and fun to think about a cam pus that’s pretty tra ditional but what are the things that need to change to make sure stu dents are ready for it?” GC is in the works with a masterplan for the physical campus, planning for the next ten years from how they can do better, our buildings to what students want to see improved. As the new university president, Cox has already begun initiating projects to bet ter improve GC while prioritizing students and their experience. “We want students to speak up and have their voices heard so that we can make sure the stu dent experience here is better than they can get anywhere else in the state of Georgia,” Cox said.
“The focus on undergrad research, skilled writers, communicator, thinker that will last from job to job and career to ca reer. We do that so well here and I wanted to be part of a campus where those kinds of things are really important.”
Clark identified sever al variables that may pre vent potential students from applying to college, such as the minimum wage’s rise in Georgia. However, Clark does not deem this rea son as one of the more important variables.
Claire O’Neill | Art Director Courtesy of Anna Leavitt The GC president medallion.
3 NEWS 9.7.2022 LILY PRUITT, ASST. NEWS EDITOR REBECCA MEGHANI, NEWS EDITOR
“The percentage of people that are col lege-aged is lower than it used to be,” Dr. Clark said. According to Dr. Clark, another reason that fewer people enroll in college is that they collegehaslegeagedhavecatchingandimmunocompromisedareareconcernedaboutCOVID-19.PotentialstudentsalsobeendiscourfromattendingcolbecauseCOVID-19greatlyalteredtheexperience.
She discussed how the educational expe rience here is different from other universities because of the work to be distinctive where the outcomes are beneficial.
Cara distributedbudgetimpactrollmentnomicsChrisoftheDanielamongstateenrollmentproachformulatembetweenstudentsforageeightfallrollment“ThetaStirgusaffecttemfromrentlymentDueStaffRadosevichWritertolowerenrolllevels,GCiscurfacingbudgetcutstheUniversitySysofGeorgiathatwillthe2024fiscalyear.AccordingtoEricfromtheAtlanJournal-Constitution,system’stotalendeclinedthisforthefirsttimeinyears.Theaverenrollmentdeclineschoolswithfewerthisfallwas5%and6%.”“TheUniversitySysofGeorgiausesafundingapbasedonstudenttoallocateappropriationsitsinstitutions,”McDonald,InterimDirectorPublicAffairs,said.AccordingtoDr.Clark,anecoprofessor,enlevelsdirectlytheamountofthatGCreceives.“ThewayfundingisattheUSG level is dependent on our enrollment,” said Clark. Dr. J.J. Arias, anoth er economics professor, shared that the fiscal year is from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 where the cuts will be felt the most.
Courtesy of Anna Leavitt
Fortunately, junior accounting major Carson Whitmire said that Pi Chis were able to resolve any related issues. “Luckily, we would find out who had dropped way ahead of schedule,” Whit more said. “Any prob lems could have been resolved in minutes.”
Courtesy of Anjal Shennoy
“All employees had to cover positions inside the gym because we weren’t hiring anyone new that year, and intramural games felt a lot more different with the mask mandate, and Covid re strictions,” Suplee said. The places affect ed are working to hire more people, but that cannot occur overnight. “Once business picks up, we might hire more employees,” Ledrek said. However, that hasn’t stopped students from finding ways to make money. Kruesal said she has been making quick cash while going to school full time. GC rides is a student GroupMe that allows students to give rides to each oth er. Through this group chat, both drivers and riders have easy access to communicate with each other. Drivers text the group chat with the time they will be driving, what they charge, and how to contact them. According to Kruesal, driving for GC rides allowed her to choose her own sched ule and set her pay. She also said everyone who participates in GC rides as the driver, or the pas senger, are all friend ly and Businessesunderstanding.haveseen an increase in an inter est of job hires since the pandemic. Although they cannot afford to ac commodate all the inter est that they are getting, it does increase business morale and profits. De spite this, GC students are also accommodating to the lack of job posi tions open and finding new ways to make money.
GC sorority hous es worked through the malfunctions of po tential new members dropping, not showing up to their parties, or being dismissed from the recruitment pro cess. This year’s recruit ment process proved to be more difficult than prior years as sororities were forced to overcome challenges presented by this year’s Potential New Members (PNMs). In early August, Greek sorority life welcomed the girl’s class of 2026 with open arms. Not long into recruitment week, reports of poten tial new members were bashing on what could be their potential new homes. The recruitment process is different from each perspective of Pi Chi’s, recruitment chairs, recruiters and PNMs. “It was really chal lenging hearing and seeing the negativity from girls who wouldn’t get invited back to a house that they want ed,” said junior Pi Chi Sarah Grace Livingston. Livingston said that many Pi Chi’s felt stressed to fulfill their duties. “Trying to create a group of girls where everyone felt includ ed and safe was also a bit challenging because the groups became very cliquish,” Livingston said. These challenges were faced by Pi Chi groups daily as they tried to guide potential new members through this process. Countless hours went into perfecting the re cruitment process. Most houses put in months of preparation, start ing in the spring of that year. The reports and social media blast of potential new mem bers being disrespect ful and hateful was an obstacle for all of GC sorority life to conquer. “It was upsetting to hear some of the feed back we would get, but in all honesty, it gave us an even bigger rea son to treat the po tential new members with open minds- it’s a stressful week,” said sophomore market ing major Noam Lak. Sorority life individ ually dealt with what needed to happen for this process to become a more positive and memorable recruitment process for potential new members, recruiters and Pi Chis. This process is noth ing short of stressful but the attitude during the said process is most rewarding by the end. Due to
Who’s Bashing Sorority Houses?
semester.followinguntilmentrecruitgogibilitythecludingcess,mentrecruitfromthemselvesdismissaskedwerefullifesororitysionthefacedtheybecausecruitmentoutdroppedmanyweek,outthroughnegativitythethegirlsofrewerewithimpresthatistoxic.Ahandofgirlsalsototheproininelitothroughagainthe
LILY PRUITT, ASST. NEWS EDITOR4NEWS REBECCA MEGHANI, NEWS EDITOR 9.7.2022
Though Pi Chi groups were the first parties af fected by potential new members dropping- as a whole, houses were not impacted enough to cause irreversible dam age. As a result of a low number of registered potential new members, the droppings, and or dismissals of potential new members, many houses did not meet pledge class quotas. The repercussions of this led to a longer re cruitment process for so rorities after Rush Week. Sororities were tabled on the front campus to raise interest and meet more potential mem bers who had not origi nally signed up to rush. Sororities dealt with the drop in recruitment numbers by extending their recruitment pro cess and offering CallOn-Bids (COBs) later in the fall. While this fall caused lots of stress, the benefit of the drop in recruitment comes to the girls who had not been able to participate originally but have since changed their minds.
Left: Freshman, Ashley Hansell, Right : Freshman, Emily Bodamer
As the school year kicks off, students around GC are growing interest in jobs around campus. The job mar ket has recently in creased wages causing a surge in applications to restaurants and stores in Milledgeville. GC students are searching for jobs that are close to campus and give flexible hours to correlate with their class schedules. “…A Lot of my peers are looking for jobs that are flexible with their school schedule to be able to make a little extra spending money,” said sophomore Sarah Krue sal, an education major. GC offers a selec tion of on-campus jobs that include decent pay and flexible schedules to guarantee a success ful semester. Students can work in places such as the GC Wellness & Recreation Center, or the Russell Library. “The pay was nev er really an issue to me since the job wasn’t very demanding and everything was pretty laid-back,” said senior Brooke Suplee, a mar keting major. “I couldn’t imagine my four years at GC without this job and I’m very fortunate I was able to work sayandlikedowntownapplications.nessstores,ited.on-campusUnfortunately,there.”jobsarelimAsaresult,popularandsmallerbusiarereceivingmorePopulardestinationsFireflyBoutiqueBlackbirdCoffeethistrendisnotnew.“Duringthefirstcou ple of weeks of classes, a lot of people come in and ask if we are hiring,” said Blackbird barista John Kauffman. “There are a lot more applications than I have seen since I started working in Feb ruary, but that’s typical for this time of year.” Both Firefly Bou tique and Blackbird are always taking in appli cations, however, they only have a select num ber of spots among their staff, and those spots tend to fill up quickly. Small businesses around campus are de lighted at the increase of applications. Crav ings, a restaurant that serves sandwiches and ice cream in the down town area, said they are finally seeing an in crease in applications after opening in 2019. Brenda Ledrek, the manager at this establish ment, tells us about how his establishment views the surplus of people in the restaurant. “Cravings has seen an increase in applications, too much that we cannot hire, but it’s nice when they come to ask, because it shows that people know about us,” said Brenda Ledrek, Cravings manager. Job positions in and around GC fill up quickly as college students come back for the fall semes ter. Although stores are always taking applica tions, most places only have a limited number of spots that fill up fast. A big factor in these limited positions was the pandemic. The pandemic forced busi nesses to accommo date for the lack of em ployees and customers.
Autumn Arnette Staff Writer Kyara ContributingCastilloWriter
GC Students’ Work Over School
ContributingVerityWriter
WHO declared monkey pox a “public health emergen cy of international concern” In late July 2022, the World Health Organization declared a global emer gency over the spread of the monkey pox virus across the world. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director general, declared monkeypox a “public health emergency of interna tional concern.” The virus itself spreads through physical contact, whether by directly touching an infected person or touching something after them, such as sharing clothing. It can also be transmitted by coughing or sneezing. The only other diseases that currently have this designation are COVID-19 and polio. Vaccinations, tests and treatments are already available in the United States to counter this outbreak.
According to a White House official, the Taliban was aware of Zawahiri’s presence in their state. This is in vio lation of the Doha agreement, which includes the stipulation that the Tal iban shall not harbor known terror ists in Afghanistan. In response, the U.S. chose to proceed with the drone strike without alerting the Taliban first. In a speech, Biden said that Za wahiri contributed to the planned 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and that “justice has been delivered,” China conducted military drills to intimidate the U.S. after House Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan China and Taiwan have maintained rocky relations for decades. Taiwan considers itself to be an independent nation, while China sees the island as a “renegade state” that should remain a part of China. The US has not formal ly backed Taiwan’s claim of sovereignty but after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited the nation, China viewed this as the U.S.’s intention to support Taiwan. However, the U.S. claims its policy on Taiwan remains unchanged.
Courtesy of Madison Smith Two students showcase their 2021 Music Midtown wristbands.
5 NEWS 9.7.2022 LILY PRUITT, ASST. NEWS EDITOR REBECCA MEGHANI, NEWS EDITOR Summer 2022 News Kate
The Inflation Reduction Act is a bill that focuses largely on climate and healthcare legislation. It was passed by the House of Representatives on August 12, 2022 and signed into law by President Joe Biden on August 16, 2022. This bill is to reduce and slow the effects of climate change while encouraging corporations to develop healthier energy sources. Additional ly, it aims to lower the prices of some medications in the U.S. which is like ly to take effect more slowly. It also aims to help the IRS pursue wealthier individuals and companies who have managed to avoid paying their taxes.
As of now, Russian President Vladimir Putin controls about twenty percent of Ukraine, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remaining defiant in the face of its aggressor. With Russia being a nuclear-armed state and having significantly more available resources than the smaller country of Ukraine, it is unclear how long Ukraine will be able to withstand the invasion. In western Ukraine, school is back in session and businesses remain open, while fight ing continues to rage on in the east. In the six months of war, it is estimated that about 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed, in addition to 5,500 civilians who have died and another 7,800 who have been wounded. There has yet to be any sign that Russia and Ukraine would engage in peace talks. Shinzo Abe, former prime minister of Japan was shot. Shinzo Abe, former prime minis ter of Japan, was assassinated on July 8, 2022 while giving a speech in Nara, Japan. Abe held the office of prime minister longer than any other Japa nese politician to date. Although he stepped down in 2020, Abe remained a prominent political figure with high social power. The assassin was able to walk right past Abe’s securi ty guards and get a clear shot at him.
US drone strike on terror ist leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, in volved in 9/11 attacks and took over Osama bin Laden’s position Last month, President Biden an nounced that the United States had killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Za wahiri in a drone strike in Afghan istan. Al- Zawahiri took over al Qae da after Osama bin Laden’s death.
Music Midtown cancelled Charlotte Parker Staff Writer Music Midtown is a music festival that has been taking place in Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia since 1994. This year, the event was meant to take place on September 1718th, featuring names like Mitski, Jack White, Fall Out Boy, Conan Gray, My Chemical Ro mance, Alec Benjamin and more but on August 1st, it was cancelled. Music Midtown an nounced across their platforms, “due to cir cumstances beyond our control, Music Mid town will no longer be taking place this year.” The new constitu tional carry law in Geor gia has made it legal for citizens of Georgia to carry concealed weap ons without a license. Music Midtown is held on public property and despite their best ef forts, they were unable to restrict bringing guns onto the premises. Safety issues are al ready a concern at festi vals such as Music Mid town. Approximately fifty thousand people attended in 2021 and the festival being unable to restrict the presence of firearms could only increase the potential for dangerous situations. “You know, I real ly enjoy festivals and I’ve always liked Music Midtown,” said Madi son Smith, a junior mass communications stu dent who has attended Music Midtown three times. “I also agree with the cancellation. I per sonally don’t like the idea of going to a fes tival where guns are around so I understand. If I were to know that before buying a ticket, I probably wouldn’t have.” Other students share the sentiment. “In my opinion,” said Chad Helton, a junior political science major, “Music Midtown was doing what they thought they needed to do to keep people safe, espe cially with all the mass shootings that are hap pening in America. Plus, on the concert side of it, you know, they’re already super overcrowded. Like, people are already passing out and you can’t get to them. Now imagine trying to get out or help when there’s an active gunman.” On top of the disap pointment expressed by the festival and the many eager festivalgoers, the cancellation has a nega tive impact on Atlanta’s economy. Music Mid town brought about fifty million dollars annually to the state of Georgia and that revenue will now be lost or moved elsewhere. The South Carolina governor has already stepped up to offer to host the festival. Christopher Clark, an economics professor, dis cussed the economic im pact on the cancellation. “The fifty-mil lion-dollar revenue Mu sic Midtown brings to Georgia isn’t just tick ets,” said Clark, “it’s also about the hotels and the restaurants nearby. Peo ple who want to rent out their apartments can’t do that, people who would come in won’t be shop ping and buying trinkets. It’s all trickle-down.” The loss in revenue will only truly be felt by Atlanta residents. GC students with family in the Piedmont Park area may hear com plaints and anyone who didn’t capitalize on the opportunity to refund the ticket will mourn. “Ultimately, the worst thing about it for GC students is one less op portunity,” said Clark.
Beijing had spent the weeks leading up to Pelosi’s visit warning the Speak er not to come because of the increas ing tensions in the region. After Pelosi commenced with the trip, China in creased its military exercises and drills in the sea and air and issued a state ment strongly encouraging the United States to stop meddling in the affairs of Taiwan. This has led to an overall increase in the already tense relations between the U.S., China, and Taiwan.
Inflation Reduction Act
January 6th hearings/ FBI search on Donald Trump’s home In relation to the ongoing January 6th hearings that are taking place to determine if former President Donald Trump incited the riots at the Capi tol, the FBI was able to procure a war rant allowing them to search Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, FL. This search coincides with the in vestigation that Trump took classi fied documents and information with him from the White House when he left office in 2021. The National Ar chives believes that Trump is still in possession of materials that he is no longer allowed to possess. The search warrant itself allowed the FBI to seize “All physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegal ly possessed in violation of 18 U.S.C.” Ukraine vs Russia war In February 2022, Russia formally invaded Ukraine in an aggressive at tempt to annex the state into Russia.
Musk claimed that Twitter with held information about the app and that he was misled about how many of the app’s accounts were spam ac counts. Because Musk signed a con tract agreeing to buy the platform, he has since entered a legal battle with Twitter to try and reverse the agree ment. The trial is set to take place in October and Musk’s lawyers have already issued over 100 subpoenas. Webb telescope first images: images into the ancient universe On July 11, 2022, NASA debuted the first images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. These im ages are more detailed and focused than the previous snapshots that NASA would receive from the Hub ble Space Telescope. With this new technology, we will be able to see further into the universe than ever before and can look at how the uni verse looked 13 billion years in the past. With these images of never-be fore-seen nebulas, planets and gal axies, scientists will also be able to monitor other atmospheres and learn so much more about the universe.
Because of the difficulty surrounding gun purchasing in Japan, politicians frequently mingle with civilians, but this is likely to change after Abe’s assassination. The gun used in the attack was homemade by the sus pected gunman, Tetsuya Yamagami. Elon Musk termi nated the Twitter deal In the spring of 2022, billionaire Elon Musk bargained to buy Twit ter for $44 billion. However, in July, Musk decided that he no longer wished to go through with the deal.
Roe v Wade overturned
On June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court officially reversed its ruling in the landmark Roe v. Wade case. In the 5-4 vote, the court ruled that the decision made in 1973 would no longer be upheld. Roe v. Wade had long protected a woman’s right to have an abortion and the choice of continu ing the pregnancy rather than leaving that decision up to the government. This overturn of Roe v. Wade does not fully outlaw abortions in the United States, but it no longer protects them from state laws. This means that abor tion laws will now vary between states, with some continuing to allow abor tions to the extent that they have been for decades, while other states are al ready seeing rollbacks in their abortion rights. Many states have already begun implementing policies that will not al low abortions without specific circum stances surrounding the pregnancy or on how far along the pregnancy is.
GC acquires volleyball transfer Rachel Machovec
Grace Wood Staff Writer In July 2022, Flagler Alumni Rachel Macho vec decided to drive home after working an unful filling sales job for two months. On the way, she passed GC’s campus and thought what if she goes back to school for grad school and volleyball. “I realized sales is not where I wanted to be,” Machovec said. “The transactional re lationship of corporate America was not giving me enough as a person.” Machovec soon contacted head coach Gretchen Krumdieck and was elected to the All-PBC team in a mat ter of no time. She is one of several transfer students on GC’s vol leyball team in addition to eleven new players.
Courtesy of GC Athletics GC’s new head basketball coach, Ryan Aquino
GC hires Aquino as new Men’s Basketball Coach
Aquino received awards such as All-South east Region First Team honors from the Nation al Association of Basket ball Coaches and Dak tronics. He also received All-PBC First Team as well after he became the only player to average a double-double in the Peach Belt Conference. “It is crazy to think about when the news came out and they an nounced that I was the first alumni in the pro gram,” Aquino said. “Just seeing the amount of support from the alumni that I have coached and played with and those that I know from before my time, their support was very humbling, and it all means a lot to me.”
Courtesy of GC Athletics Coach Ryan Aquino listens in on the huddle vs Lander on Wednesday Feb. 16.
In 2021, the Bobcats as a team averaged 10.34 kills per set, 9.32 blocks per set, 1.95 blocks per set and a 10-22 overall score.
“The past couple sea sons we have not lived up to what we should live up to,” said senior returning star player Emily Long. “We have had so much talent, but we could not necessarily follow through and execute.” Machovec comes from Flagler University, who had an outstanding record. In her last sea son, she placed seventh in kills per set and tenth in digs per set (2.95) in the PBC. Machovec led her team with 254 kills (2.67/set), 254 digs (2.95/ set), 27 service aces and eight double-doubles. Head coach Krum dieck believes Machovec’s voice and natural lead ership will make a great addition to the team. “She has got a really good volleyball IQ and a lot of experience on the court playing at this level and in our confer ence,” Krumdieck said. Machovec is adjust ing to the team quite well, and she has al ready formed a strong bond with the other girls on and off the court. “I have never had a team where every sin gle person is your best friend,” Machovec said. Machovec did not play in the August 26 and 27 matches because of her shoulder flaring up from an old injury. Machovec suffered a shoulder injury her freshmen year of college and continued playing for a month after. One of her goals this sea son is to play without pain in her shoulder. The Bobcats lost their home openers in the 2022 Bobcat Classic to West Virginia State (0-3) in three sets and Limestone University (2-3) in five sets to start the season. GC turned it around in their second match with a straight-set victo ry (3-0) over Southern Wesleyan, making it their first win of the season. The Bobcats also went 2-1 in the Mars Hill tour nament. GC beat King University (3-0) in three sets and Coker (3-0) in three sets. They ended the tournament falling to Mars Hill Universi ty (0-3) in three sets. GC volleyball cur rently holds a 3-3 record.
Courtesy of GC Athletics Rachel Machovec (10) joins the huddle in celebration vs Mars Hill Saturday Sept. 3.
ContinuedCOACHfrompage 1
Inspired by her teach er parents, she began a graduate program in ed ucation so that she can teach marketing and business skills to high students. Machovec be lieves she will find her purpose at GC by playing volleyball and working on her master’s degree.
The volleyball team has been struggling to perform in the last cou ple seasons despite hav ing several star players.
BRENNAN SCHMITZ, ASST. SPORTS EDITOR6SPORTS 9.7.2022 HAYDEN FLINN, SPORTS EDITOR
Coach Aquino and Senior Brandon Thomas are both looking forward to the season opener this year, as GC is playing UGA in their first game. “I am looking forward to how we perform on the biggest of stages,” Thomas said. “This will be the biggest contest we have had in a few years because of COVID-19.” “I love the shift with Coach Aquino,” said se nior Richard Crawford. “He has adapted quickly and has shown very high energy towards his new position and to the team. He is developing a really good system that fits the team well and allows each player to succeed in a way that best suits them.” The Bobcats were 21-8 a season ago. They appeared in their first NCAA tourna ment in over a de cade, and this team is looking to pick back up where they left off. “The biggest keys to success this season are defense, communication, and composure,” Thom as said. “I expect that we continue the success we’ve had as a program these recent years and ul timately I see us return ing to the national stage.” The Bobcats lost a couple of key players from a season ago. One of them being GC’s all-time leading scorer, Jordan Thomas. The other was former three-year starter and team captain Wes ley Simpson, who played an extremely important role in his time at GC. “We lost two guys that have started the past three years, they are not only unbelievable play ers but also unbelievable kids,” Aquino said. “This allows so many oppor tunities in leadership in some of our younger players and I am excit ed to see that play out.” Aquino continues to prepare for his first season as head coach for his alma mater. The team hopes to have a repeat of the success from a season ago, and to reach a step further. The Bobcats tip off their season this fall with a scrimmage against UGA.
Richardson has been a brand ambassador for Liquid IV since last year and speaks highly of the opportunity pro vided to her by the pas sage of this legislation. “It is exciting to know that these companies of fer these deals not just to D1 athletes but to D2 and D3 athletes as well,” Richardson said. “It feels rewarding to obtain rec ognition in this way for my success on the field.” Richardson of ten offers some of the supplies she is sent by Liquid IV to her friends and teammates. GC volleyball junior Callie Miller has also earned an endorsement deal with Alani Nu, an energy drink company. “Some benefits I’ve seen for NIL is it gives athletes an opportunity to endorse brands they support or use day to day,” Miller said. “I think it’s been a great opportu nity for athletes to use the hard work they have put in to build their names and use it to showcase companies that are sup portive to athletes.” Top executives in the NCAA remain extreme ly opposed to the idea of athletes gaining rights to their names, image and likeness. They feel that the core value of ama teurism seen in NCAA sports for the last centu ry will dissipate and the antics that come with the paid professional game such as contract negotia tion will ruin the unique product that has been of fered by collegiate sports
The general sentiment of the court on issues of the undue power that could potentially exist in the NCAA is revealed in a comment about the rul ing of NCAA v Alston.
“Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not pay ing their workers a fair market rate,” said Justice Brett Kavanaugh in an interview provided by the AJC. “The NCAA is not above the law.” Due to the reluctance of the federal court to rule on NIL, the legal ity around this issue is a bit opaque and large ly dependent on what state you live in. Cur rently, 27 states have NIL laws on the books, most of which went into effect on July 1, 2021. Highly regarded GC athletes have greatly ben efited from the passage of this NIL legislation, including GC athlete of the week and star goal keeper Kate Richardson.
It remains to be seen if the NIL right will continue to diffuse to other colleges across the country as more states look to pass sim ilar legislation, as well as the impact these laws will have on collegiate sports in the long term.
Claire O’Neill | Art Director
Evidence of these problems appears to be arising in sports as the transfer portal is hotter than ever. Just under half of the starting NCAA D1 quarterbacks are trans fers. Miami basketball star Isaiah Wong threat ened to enter the transfer portal if his NIL compen sation is not increased and intrateam tensions concerning compensa tion of players based on respective skill and fame. While it is clear that the NIL is changing the nature of collegiate sports in a way that crit ics of it find abominable, it is opening up a vari ety of revenue streams for athletes that were not previously Furthermore,accessed.itwould be callous to neglect the fact that the NCAA turns colossal prof its off of these athletes with no cost of labor. This fact certainly in vites skepticism to the NCAA’s attempt to make an upstanding moral argument about their attempt to “preserve the spirit of the game.”
Drew likelycourtislyagainstruledbenefitsitthe2021CourtHowever,tohassioninilarsigningforbrandmoneylegethemomentousfirstetarynessname,themtionsthesetotion.tingmentscascadelawlegislationfromandcorevocatedwhichedentnearlylegislationGeneralpassedonBriansinceContributingOldhamWriterIthasbeen18monthsGeorgiaGovernorKempsignedofflandmarklegislationbytheGeorgiaAssembly.ThisoverrodeacenturyofprecsetbytheNCAA,consistentlyadamateurismasavalueoftheirbrand,preventedathletesbeingpaidtoplay.Kemp’ssigningofthisenacteditintoandcameaspartofaofstategovernnationwideputsimilarlawsintoacTheselawsworkedrelieveathletesofmonetarysancwhichpreventedfromusingtheirimageandlikeinpursuitofmoncompensation.Californiawasthestatetobeginthisshiftineligibilityofcolathletestoearnandserveasambassadorswillingcompanies,abillofsimnaturetoKemp’sSeptember2019.Currently,thedecitoenactNILlawslargelybeenleftindividualstates.aSupremerulinginJuneonwhetherNCAAcanlimeducation-relatedforathletesunanimouslytheNCAA.Whilenotdirectrelated,thisrulingindicativethatthiswouldbeuntoupholdthe power of the central ized governing body of the NCAA additional at the cost of restricting the personal economic autonomy of athletes.
7 BRENNAN SCHMITZ, ASST. SPORTS EDITOR SPORTS 9.7.2022 HAYDEN FLINN, SPORTS EDITOR NIL for college athletes
Alee found that the GC study abroad of fice offered the help she needed and more. The employees aided her in every step of the ap plication process, es pecially all the difficul ties like dealing with COVID restrictions. This fall, nine GC stu dents are taking class es for a full semester in Australia, England, Ireland, France, Ger many, Japan, and Spain. The GC Interna tional Education Cen ter offers Drop-In Info Sessions about“firstisHouse).tionInternationaldays,WednesdaysTuesdays,andThursat2pmattheEducaCenter(theBoneNoappointmentneeded.Thisisthebeststep”tolearningstudyingabroad.
Outside of classes, students were able to travel to Rome and visit muesems and other historic sites.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a must for students studying in Italy.
According to Lan ham, 112 students stud ied abroad, and several students participated in a Study Away program this past summer. In general, GC students can study in over sixty countries. This summer, our students traveled to the following countries: Costa Rica, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Ire land, Italy, Netherlands, Peru, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and Turks & Caicos.
8ARTS & LIFE WILLIAM VAN DE PLANQUE, ASST. A&L EDITOR9.7.2022 JENNIFER CRIDER, A&L EDITOR
Jarris Lanham, study abroad advisor for the International Educa tion Center, helps stu dents look at different study abroad options and find the best-fit ting program for them.
Courtesy of Laney Williams Laney Williams and classmates touring in Italy this past summer.
“I took a travel writing class and a Shakespeare class, but my friends were in classes with psycholo gy, public speaking, and art so there are a lot of different classes for dif ferent types of majors,” said Williams. The pro gram also allowed Wil liams to go on field trips every week to surround ing cities, like Rome, Sienna, and Orvieto.
Nayoung Seo Contributing Writer GC sends students across the globe
Cameron Alee, a se nior criminal justice major, studied in Seoul, South Korea at the Uni versity of Seoul for the spring semester of 2022. “I had students from everywhere: Belgium, Japan, Brazil, Venezu ela; all these different countries,” Alee said. “It was really interest ing to see the differ ent students’ perspec tives on what we were talking about in class.” She also traveled around South Korea to other cities such as Bu san, Jeju Island, Gusan, and Incheon. After being in a big city like Seoul for months, she enjoyed exploring smaller towns.
Aside from the wide variety of summer pro grams offered through GC, students are giv en the opportunity to study abroad during the regular school year. 11 students studied abroad during the 2022 spring semester in South Ko rea, France, Portugal, Ireland, Sweden, Ger many, and England.
Courtesy of Laney Williams
Laney Williams, a ju nior education major, took classes in Montepul ciano, Italy for 5 weeks during the summer.
“It has been a privi lege to be able to con nect GC students to such life-changing ex periences around the world,” said Lanham.
Courtesy of Cameron Alee Cameron Alee and other students studying abroad embrace South Korean culture and language.
The GC International Education Center act ed as a launchpad this past summer for stu dents as they advanced their degrees in more foreign countries than they could count on both hands. Studying abroad gives students an oppor tunity to immerse them selves in different cul tures and environments while taking classes that count toward their major.
Courtesy of Laney Williams
Anne Roper Staff Writer Getting involved on a college campus as a freshman can be over whelming and scary. There are so many clubs, so many organizations - how could you pos sibly know which ones could be a fit for you?
From left: Blakely Queen, Cathy Cox, Lillian McGalliard in front of the Shelter Buddies table.
9 ARTS & LIFE WILLIAM VAN DE PLANQUE, ASST. A&L EDITOR9.7.2022 JENNIFER CRIDER, A&L EDITOR
GC’s 4th annual Block Party
His adversaries seem to concur with the idea that Tate is a product of the fear created by the pandemic and oth er shifting societal and financial paradigms. They illustrate Tate as a predatory figure who has adopted an extreme ly right wing agenda that openly advocates for racism, homopho bia, and misogyny. This negative view of Tate’s overall message arises from multiple videos of Tate that ap pear to demonstrate his unwavering support of militant sexism. Tate has previously said that he is “absolutely a misogynist” and “you can not be root ed in reality and not be a sexist”. A coalition of or ganizations such as Hope Not Hate and Women’s Aid united in response to these comments to get him censored, because they felt that allowing these comments to re main online normal ized misogyny and vio lence towards women. UK based advoca cy organization Hope Not Hate believes Tate’s message is affecting his malleable audi ence of young men. In a statement given to the Washington Post “The effect that Tate’s brand of vitriolic mi sogyny can have on the young male audience is deeply concerning… we also know that mi sogyny can be a gateway to other extreme and discriminatory views.” This group played a large role in successful ly deplatforming Tate. According to Adam Lamparello, GC Assis tant Professor of Crim inal Justice, the rise of Tate is concerning, espe cially given the general trend of people on both sides of the political con tinuum looking to more biased and fanatic people for the information that ultimately shapes their opinions. Lamparello provides a harsh evalu ation of Tate’s message. “He (Tate) has said some absolutely hor rible things about women particularly pertaining to sexual as sault.” Lamparello said. Tate’s rise to fame, despite his troubling message, demonstrates a potential design flaw in the construction of the algorithm’s that are em ployed by social media platforms. Social media algorithms are designed in a way that prioritiz es continued interface with the app. In order to increase the likelihood that users will contin ue to interact with the application, algorithms ensure people who demonstrate a strong emotional reaction to a video will see similar videos. This has the po tential to strengthen the beliefs of Tate’s support ers and further electrify the environment around issues like misogyny. It is hypothesized that Tate exploited this vul nerability within the al gorithm to manufacture his rise to popularity. He did so by offering a quid pro quo price re duction to subscribers of his online financial advice program, Hus tler’s University, in ex change for subscribers creating proxy accounts that flooded social me dia sites with videos of Tate. The nature of these videos led to strong emo tional reactions from viewers of them which increased their inter action with these vid eos, which led to Tate’s ubiquitous presence on these applications. This strategy proved to be very effective as Tate’s Tik Tok account grew from 1 to 4.4 mil lion followers since June 2022. This exponential increase in the popu larity of Tate’s account speaks to an alarming trend towards individu als with extremely polar opinions occupying a disproportionate amount of the media landscape in relation to how much of the physical popu lation they make up. Evidence of Tate’s rise in popularity can be shown by the fact that he has popped up on many GC’s students’ social me dia accounts. Exposure to videos of Tate has led to a variety of opinions on his message. Anson Wessner, GC sophomore and accounting ma jor, finds some aspects of Tate’s message to be beneficial to men while acknowledging many as pects of it are repulsive. “Andrew Tate personi fies toxic masculinity and provides a great counter balance to the emascu lation of men in today’s society,” said Wessner. “While controversial and perverse at times, he provides advice to keep men self motivated.” Bailey Parker, a soph omore English major provides a much more critical take on Tate’s message, feeling that he objectifies women in a way that overrides any use that message could have to men. “I do not under stand how someone can only look at wom en for sex. How would this Tate guy feel if he was just seen as an ob ject? Women are people, not objects” said Parker. In speaking on his own censorship, Tate claims to be a victim of unrighteous free speech censorship that has been skewed towards censoring spokespeo ple for the right wing. Lamparello strongly dis agrees with this claim. “Andrew Tate does not fall into the catego ry of people who can claim they have been unfairly censored,” Lam parello said. “These are private companies with the right to ban who ever they want, and he has violated their com munity guidelines.” The decision to black list Tate appears to be well based around con crete violations of previ ously enacted commu nity guidelines on the social networking sites that have banned him. According to Tiktok spokespeople, clips of Tate present on their ap plication shamelessly en courage violence towards female sexual partners and misogyny, which is a clear violation of their community guidelines, which restrict a person’s right to advocate for vi olence directed against a particular group. Although these com panies are enforcing community guidelines that were created long before Tate’s emergence on the platform, this decision remains con troversial. This contro versy could be due to its occurrence in a time where all events around social media censorship incite strong emotions from the opposing view points on the
GC hosted its 4th an nual Weekend of Wel come Block Party on August 24th, 2022. Also referred to as Bobcat Marketplace, the event offered incoming fresh men an opportunity to meet over 70 of GC’s clubs and organizations.
The Block Party was held on Greene Street, direct ly in front of the dorms, making it especially hard to miss for the residents of Parkhurst and Wells. “It’s really the biggest RSO fair we have of the year to help first-year students get involved,” said Kristy Johnson, GC Student Life representa tive. “We add a few extra activities and fun things to make it a little bit more than just an RSO fair.” The Block Party al lowed students to inter act with clubs they may not have even known ex isted. GC has a diverse se lection of 199 registered student organizations on campus, ensuring that each student has the op portunity to find some thing suited to their in terests. The Department of Student Activities and Organizations urges stu dents to keep in mind the Campus Life Challenge, which pushes students to try to get involved in at least one organiza tion or team within the first month on campus. “I think the important thing is to really focus on one or two organiza tions that you’re really interested in, and in stead of just being a part of them, try to take on leadership roles and get more involved,” Johnson said when asked if she had any advice for firstyear students. “If you can take on a leadership role through the orga nization, that helps you to build skills that you need for after college.” Aside from perusing the tables, students en joyed music and activ ities such as a zipline, a rock-climbing wall, ax throwing, and even a drawing for prizes. Plenty of opportunities presented themselves to receive free goodies, of fering even more incen tives for students look ing to add to their GC memorabilia collection. “I actually signed up for rugby because it seemed fun. I didn’t know we had a rugby team,” said Cara Cost, freshman nursing major. “I wasn’t going to go at first, but I actually stayed a while, because we did every thing. I walked home with so much free stuff.” We also spoke with Haley Marshall, trea surer of Bobcat Media Productions, the film production-based club on campus. She pro vided insight into some of the opportunities working in a leadership role has brought her. “I didn’t know this, but you can put practi cum as a job on your re sume. I’m pretty sure that BMP Exec can count as a job too,” Marshall said. “Definitely start early,” She continued when speaking about student involvement and Bobcat Marketplace. “Go to all the tables, because I had no idea and I didn’t start until my junior year.” It’s easy to forget that an entire group of peo ple experiences the same life changes at the same time, and that makes it the perfect time to join anCourtesyorganization.ofShelterBuddies
Andrewmatter.Tate ContinuedTatefrom page 1
of outdoor activities and limited screentime can make it hard to keep up with the latest in pop culture. Here is a recap of the past season’s biggest news in movies, music, TV and the tabloids. Johnny Depp and Am ber Heard’s Civil Clash Crescendos: In a unani mous decision, a Wash ington, D.C., jury certi fied actor Johnny Depp’s claims of defamation by actress Amber Heard, Depp’s ex-wife. Depp was awarded $15 million after being declared vic torious. The case stems from a 2016 op-ed arti cle in which Heard wrote that an unnamed indi vidual subjected her to domestic violence. Depp presumed the article to be about himself. Heard countersued for $100 million which resulted in a $2 million reward from the jury. Depp was charged with a single count of defamation. “Harry’s House” Sub sumes Summer Stream ing Charts: Harry Styles’s third studio album, “Harry’s House”, has dominated the charts of the world’s largest mu sic streaming services. The project remained one of Billboard’s 10 most-streamed albums for the entire summer. Styles’s viral single “As It Was” remains the proj ect’s most popular song, and the track has raked in well over 1 billion streams on Spotify alone. “Top Gun: Maverick” Soars at the Box Office: Just over 36 years after the release of “Top Gun”, Tom Cruise has returned to the big screen as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. Cruise’s action film is the highest-grossing film of the summer, and it is the sixth high est-grossing movie on the all-time domes tic box office rankings. The film is the biggest box office hit of Cruise’s decades-long career.
Shakira’s Tax Trou ble: After compensating the Spanish government with over 15 million eu ros, popstar Shakira is preparing to fend off ac cusations of tax fraud. The singer spent a con siderable amount of time in Spain with FC Bar celona’s Gerard Piqué, a long-term partner, throughout the 2010s, deeming her respon sible for unpaid taxes from 2012 to 2014. Sha kira’s team remains ada mant in her legal strug gle, and they commend her financial record.
Cale SummerStaffStricklandWriterafternoons
“Kete”: The End of an Era: After struggling to fit a dashian’switheralKardashianmonths.maineddayonseparated.Kimpleschedules,relationshiplong-distanceintotheirpowercouPeteDavidsonandKardashianhaveThetwometthesetof“SaturNightLive”andretogetherfornineDavidsonandbravedsevboutsoftensedramaKanyeWest,Karex-husband..
What you missed in pop culture this summer
“Harry Styles and the Cult of the Celeb rity: Identity, the Inter net and European Pop Culture” has been ap proved to be taught by Texas State University professor, Louie Dean Valencia, in Spring 2023. The course takes an enigmatic approach at instruction by detail ing the tribulations of contemporary society through the lens of one of the most recognized British people. That person being none oth er than, Harry Styles. In an interview with NPR, Valencia said “[He] wants students to not just learn about con temporary history, but hard skills they can use. Like how to manage a social media campaign.” His motive behind using Styles as the refer ence point for the course boiled down to the length at which Styles had been famous. His career can almost be used as a petri dish to examine the soci etal and cultural changes within the past 12 years. It’s true that many of the beliefs and val ues we hold close have been passed down by a “charismatic author ity” according to Dr. Stephanie McClure, GC professor of sociology. When someone possess es the charisma or social credibility that the sta tus of ‘celebrity’ can give someone, people will naturally search for attri butes within that ‘celeb rity’ or ‘figure’ that they themselves can exhibit within their own lives. Valencia tweeted that the course will open up talking about Little Richard; more specifi cally, how there would be no Harry Styles with out a Little Richard. Little Richard was one of the first male celeb rities to openly express some form of androg ynous behavior wheth er than be in what he wore or how he carried himself. Little Richard was a black male in the 40s acting in ways that quite literally threat ened his existence for a time period. Richard’s stoicism paved the way for acts such as Prince, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger and Harry Styles. The concept of ce lebrity and pop-culture seemingly becomes en grained into to our ev eryday lives considering how our phones have now become a true ex tension ourselves. As each generation ages, more media is invented, increasing accessibility to pop-culture. To keep these newer generations engaged, schools have begun to utilize pop cul ture in academic settings. Similar to Valencia’s course on Harry Styles, GC’s Swansonomics course taught by Profes sor Brooke Conaway also incorporates pop culture into the classroom. By blending the philoso phy of a character from the popular TV show “Parks and Recreation”, Ron Swanson, and an ecdotes from the show Parks and Rec to offer a more digestible ap proach towards the more complex concepts that exist within economics. “The show contains a vast number of interest ing examples I thought would help students become more interest ed in and better under stand course content,” said Conaway. “So, it was a natural step to create a GC1Y course based on the show.” Conaway finds that using clips from the show allows students to draw better conclusions during Exams consid ering that they have more of a recognizable reference point from the clips in question. When asked about the longevity of the pop-culture courses that exist within the genre of Swansomomics and the Texas University Harry 0 course, Conaway of fered an insightful way of looking at things. “I don’t think cours es like this are a fad, but the media used to teach them will likely fade in popularity and be re placed by new media ex amples,” said Conaway. “The debate concerning the appropriate role of government will con tinue to be relevant and important, even if “Parks and Rec” is no longer a popular show.”
10ARTS & LIFE WILLIAM VAN DE PLANQUE, ASST. A&L EDITOR9.7.2022 JENNIFER CRIDER, A&L EDITOR
The Cult of the Celebrity 101 Kody ContributingMcClaryWriter
Harry Styles | Hannah Moon
BTS Calls it Quits — For Now: K-pop sensa tion BTS is taking a step back from the spotlight, telling fans the group’s members are planning to focus on solo efforts. The popstars’ looming enrollment in their na tion’s military, a man date enforced upon all able-bodied South Kore an men, has been cited as a key factor in the band’s breakup. In 2020, the South Korean govern ment revised its rules to allow recognized cultur al influences to postpone their services until the age of 30. Kim Seok-jin, 29, is the group’s oldest member, and he is ex pected to be the first of BTS’s superstars to en list in the armed forces.
“Stranger Things” Sets Sights on Netflix’s Top Se ries: Following the debut of Season 4 Volume 2 of “Stranger Things”, the se ries climbed to second on Netflix’s list of the moststreamed shows of alltime, sitting just behind “Squid Game”. Residing at the premier spots of the streaming service’s Top 10 chart from May 27 through July 1, the series garnered over 1 billion hours of view ing over the summer. “Running Up That Hill” Soars in Summer Resurgence: Kate Bush’s 1985 single “Running Up That Hill” is back at the forefront of music cul ture after its inclusion in a climactic scene of “Stranger Things” Season 4. The song is eclipsing modern popstars’ hits on streaming charts and earning Bush millions of dollars. According to Luminate, the group re sponsible for providing Billboard’s data, the sing er has brought in over $2.3 million since the se ries debuted on Netflix.
It is no secret that GC is a smaller university and would struggle to pull in the same stature of athletes that top SEC schools would. But the comradery effect associ ated with football could help to bring school culture to new levels. “Georgia Southern football games will never compare to UGA foot ball games, but you will find me in my blue and gold every weekend sup porting my home team,” said Georgia Southern senior Aidan Moon. GC has been labeled as a transfer school for far too long. I believe adding football could raise school pride and bring students togeth er for a common goal. I know that many institu tions pride themselves on the tradition surround ing their home teams. Tradition takes time to form, but it will never be made if we never start.
Abortion is not something to be taken lightly and is not some thing most women wish to do. There are short and long-term effects associated with abor tions; this procedure is both physically and mentally traumatizing. Up to 21 days after an abortion, the individual can experience intense pain, nausea, dizziness and drowsiness. There are also potential com plications associated with this procedure such as damage to the cervix, scarring of the uterus, excessive bleeding, infec tion, incomplete abor tion which requires more extensive procedures, and in some cases, death. Abortions weaken the cervix which can also affect one’s ability to car ry a fetus to term in the future. According to a study by the National Center for Biotechnolo gy Information (NCBI), one induced abortion in creases the risk of a sub sequent preterm birth by between 25% and 27%. After two or more abor tions, the risk of preterm birth increases by be tween 51% and 62%. Abortions can also in crease the risk of breast cancer. According to NCBI, there is a 44% increased risk of breast cancer among females who had at least one in duced abortion; the risk increased to 76% and 89% for those who had two or more abortions. Many women ex perience long-lasting mental health repercus sions after an induced abortion such as anx iety, depression, grief, regret, guilt, shame, suicidal thoughts, etc. So, considering these effects, why would some one want an abortion? Most women seeking abortions are classified as poor or low-income. According to a study from the Brookings In stitution, women in pov erty are five times more likely to experience an unintended pregnan cy. Likewise, 75% of those seeking an abor tion are impoverished. The average birth in GA costs $14,776. Work ing full-time for one year at minimum wage accumulates $15,000 an nually. For a person to be considered low-in come, their taxable in come does not exceed 150% of the poverty level amount. This on aver age equates to $19,000 annually. Having a child would cost at least 80% of their yearly wages.
Since the establish ment of Roe v. Wade, women have been rely ing on their basic consti tutional right to have the procedure if they see fit. It should not be up to the State to make healthcare decisions for women.
With college football season right around the corner, students around the country are plan ning their tailgates and game-day activities. But at GC, students twid dle their thumbs and hope for good TV ser vice to watch a game. It is no secret that college football brings groups of people to gether, not just to enjoy an enticing game, but to come together with the shared love for their home team. As a fellow bulldog fan, I would not be caught dead cheering on any other team, un less it were my homes chool team. So why does GC refuse to add football to our list of athletics?
Pregnancy can have life-lasting negative ef fects on one’s body, reproductive system, financial status, relation ships, emotional health and many more conse quences that have noth ing to do with the State and federal tinuegality.happenusminateofincreasespening;noting1,000iscountriesittionslegal.triesmostwhereoccurredber2010happening.doesIllegalizinggovernment.abortionnotstopthemfromInfact,fromto2014,thenumofabortionsthatincountriesitisillegalwasalidenticaltocounwhereabortionisTherewere37aborincountrieswhereislegalversus34inwhereabortionillegaleachyearperwomen.Restrictabortionaccessdoesstopthemfromhapitsignificantlythefatalityratethoseseekingtotertheirpregnancy.ThesestatisticsshowthatabortionsstilldespitetheirleWomenwillcontoseekabortions when they are not in a stage of life to become mothers, regardless of governmental restric tions. When proce dures happen without medical supervision, they are dangerous and Stateimpededthisthethatstancesonaboutandtosexahousingtoception,birthgap,system,vampingabortionsreducetionstheweandsocietylegalizeInsteadisingFocusinglife-threatening.onrestrictaccesstoabortionessentiallyuseless.oftryingtoilabortion,ourshouldexaminecontemplatewhatcandotoreducerateatwhichaborarehappening.SeveralfactorscouldthenumberofintheU.S.Rethehealthcareclosingthewageprovidingaccesstocontrolandcontraensuringaccesssafeandaffordableandcreatingmorecomprehensiveeducationisastartthisextensivelist.Womenmakeharddifficultchoicestheirbodiesbasedpersonalcircumandsituationsdonotconcerngovernment.Thus,rightshouldnotbeateithertheorfederallevel.
11 HANNAH ADAMS, ASST. OPINION EDITOR9.7.2022 ABIGAYLE ALLEN, OPINION EDITOR OPINION Roe v Wade Continued from page 1
The State may not regulate a woman’s deci sion to have an abortion as it is not their choice to make. In the second trimester, some states impose regulations on abortion, but those regu lations are reasonably re lated to maternal health. However, once the fetus reaches the point of “vi ability,” at approximate ly 24 weeks, a state may regulate abortions or entirely prohibit them.
The Washington Post found that with each win at top SEC schools, the number of applicants rose sixteen percent. In 2011, an Auburn Univer sity dean of enrollment contacted LSU and Flori da, SEC schools that had also won national titles. They stated that they received a rise in appli cants as well. Even Ore gon, who lost to Auburn in 2011, stated that they had a ten percent rise in applicants for the mere reason of competing in a game against Auburn. This rise in enroll ment is called the “Flutie Effect.” It is named af ter Boston College’s star quarterback, Dean Flutie. In 1984, he led his team to win the National Cham pionship against Miami. is After this win, appli cants to Boston surged. Now, this is not fool proof, and some schools receive no increase in applicants due to foot ball success, but colleges ranging from major state universities to less er-known institutions have spikes in interest fol lowing athletic success. Dr. Randall Smith, sociology professor at Rutgers University, ran a study measuring the academic quality of stu dents in two hundred and thirty-three differ ent universities over a twelve-year span based on the school’s foot ball teams. His findings showed clear positive effects attributable to the football program.
Claire O’Neill | Art Director
Abigayle Allen Opinion Editor
Smith found that these effects are not re lated to the on-field per formance of said teams but are the direct result of football culture and tradition at the schools.
Claire O’Neill | Art Director a football team increase enrollment at GC?
Could
Hannah Adams Asst. Opinion Editor For those born be tween the dates of Aug. 23 to Sep. 22, the season of the Virgo is beginning. Virgos are known to be some of the most lev el-headed and practical of the zodiacs. They are creative, kind and truly loving of their friends. Quality time is import ant for Virgos as they deeply cherish the inti macy of companionship. As a Pisces, many of my close friends are Virgos, and I feel that we relate heavily on our creative interests. My Virgo friends love mu sic, dancing and art. These are traits that I relate to strongly. Vir gos are typically a great source of advice, often offering the most logical and fair point of view to the situation at hand. Although the traits of the typical Virgo are dis similar to that of Pisces, I think that it is those differences that provide a healthy balance in my personal relationships. I identify strongly with the traits of a Pisces regarding being dreamy, insightful and often wrapped up in my own thoughts. To me, it is the practical mind and inten tional nature of Virgos that contradicts nicely with my tendencies, and often helps steer me back on track when I am feel ing distracted. According to the astrology app “CoStar,” Virgo and Pisces are “sister signs.” This means that they are exact opposites of one another. Although I do find this to be accurate in many ways, I still feel that there is a middle ground of similarities between us that help settle the differ entiations. For example, I feel that both Pisces and Virgos tend to be percep tive, selfless and general ly kind in nature. Virgos have been a sign that I have encountered in many friendships; I have enjoyed getting to under stand their tendencies better with each meeting. It has always been in teresting for me when connecting with other astrological signs in rec ognizing the similarities between myself and the traits of others. Whether or not you believe in as trology, it is still remark able how often people fit the mold of their sign characteristics. Despite the common resounding disapproval of astrology from astronomers, there was a time when the two worked as a unit. In Sky at Night Magazine’s ar ticle “Astrology: An As tronomer’s View”, it is said, “Ask any astrono mer if they believe in the ancient practice of astrol ogy and the answer will likely be a resounding no. And yet the science of as tronomy had its origins in this astrological belief system, which goes back a long way.” In ancient times, astrology was used as a source of foretelling the future and the pre dictions of the stars were held to a higher regard than they are today. De spite the common dis crediting of astrology in current times, many peo ple still argue that they highly identify with the general traits of their zo diacs. An Instagram poll to the public concluded that out of 73 people, 53% voted yes to feeling that they identify with the traits of their respec tive zodiac signs. Only 20% voted to sharing no traits with their sign and 17% identified with their sign in some ways.
Biden’s student loan forgiveness is regressive
It is these statistics that testify to the idea that astrology is often highly relatable and scar ily accurate. Although seemingly not scientifi cally correct, it cannot go without acknowledge ment that most people highly resonate with the generalities of their as trological chart. To me, I teeter somewhere in the balance of wanting to discredit astrology for its lack of scientific rational ity while also giving due credit to its consistent ly correct descriptions of my personality. I also think that astrology can be a good way to find connections with others and to form relationships in a way that feels deep er and more intimate.
Claire O’Neill | Art Director
Abigayle Allen Opinion Editor Last week, President Biden announced his plan to launch a student loan forgiveness program for students racking up a large amount of debt in an attempt to further their education through the college system. “The total cost of a four-year universi ty has…nearly tripled in the last forty years,” Biden said in his speech according the the White House. “Where pell grants used to cover 80% of a four-year university it now covers…rough ly thirty two percent”. The University of Pennsylvania estimates forgiving federal college debt will cost between $300 billion to $980 bil lion over the ten-year budget window, depend ing on program details. They predict that about 70% of debt relief ac crues to borrowers in the top sixty percent of the income distribution. Not only does Pres ident Biden aim to for give $10,000 for Amer icans making less than $125,000 per year and $20,000 for Pell grant recipients under that in come threshold, but he hopes to extend the pause on student loan payments until the end of the year. Originally, the loan pause was enacted by former President Trump during the pandemic to help with unemploy ment rates and costs that skyrocketed during that unprecedented time. Unemployment rates of graduates with bache lor’s degrees or higher now stand at two per cent. If Biden extends the loan pause of loan payments, it will not only be a waste of time, but a waste of Amer ican taxpayer money.
Season of virgo
According to The Washington Post, Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan is regressive because it takes money from the broader tax base, mostly made up of workers that did not receive college de grees, to unburden debt from those with college degrees. Not only is this plan expensive, but it is likely inflationary as well. With the statistics stated earlier from the University of Pennsylva nia, together those poli cies will nullify nearly a decade’s worth of deficit reduction from the In flation Reduction Act. It is also unclear whether the 1965 Education Act will even grant Biden the authority to take these steps because it was orig inally enacted to allevi ate more targeted relief. Although Biden re jected the idea of grant ing $50,000 worth of loan forgiveness proposed by far leftists, a better ap proach would have been to increase the value of Pell grants to reach those who are truly needy. The Federal Loan Forgive ness plan will directly af fect myself and my peers allowing our generation of 18 to 35 year-olds to spend more money with out the burden of debt. This debt free spend ing would directly affect and help our economy because it could contrib ute to small businesses and other corporations that may not otherwise make as much profit. However, it will be our tax money paying back our student loan debt later in our lives. While I think that President Biden’s plan could bene fit our generation for the present time, it will not do enough to help the most needy and will leave American taxpayers foot ing this bill in the future.
Claire O’Neill | Art Director
OPINION12 HANNAH ADAMS, ASST. OPINION EDITOR9.7.2022 ABIGAYLE ALLEN, OPINION EDITOR
